My New Shelter!

 

Last week I purchased a Kelty Backroads Shelter for my van.

Today I set it up and it was soooo easy!

I'll mostly use it in the desert this winter for shade and privacy.  It's plenty big enough for a chair or two, or a table, and as you can see, it's high enough for Joe to stand up in, so I can use it for changing clothes. 

The sides drop down and can be staked out tight and there is a door complete with window on the front (see photo with Joe).

It should be good and sturday in the wind. It can either be strapped to the van cargo rack or there are longer straps that can go all the way over the van and attach to the tires on the other side.

At only $160, it's cheap rent, and can be replaced yearly if needed.

I can't wait to try it out!

Photo from Internet to show sides down

Got My Seat Turned Around!

 I'm so excited!

I finally found someone to turn the passenger seat around in my Toyota Sienna and TODAY WAS THE DAY! 

HooRAY!

He only charged me $50. What a deal!

So... tomorrow I drive to Portland to get my hair cut and to pick up some of Joe's stuff. He's moving into the rooms that were mom's. 

Once I unload, I can clean up the van and reorganize for my Spring trip.

If you go back to my posts from September 2018, and then June 2019, I completed a couple of sections of Old Route 66 before my mom fell. I had to put the rest on hold while I cared for her. 

In April I'm planning to pick up where I left off. I want to revisit a few places in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Then I plan to drive Route 66 through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In Missouri, I'm hoping to stop to see my cousins Vonda, Doug, and Steve. Then I'll drop down to Georgia to visit my son. 

Depending on how tired I am, I may pop up to Illinois and work my way back West. Time will tell.

Here is a dark photo of my seat.  And below that, a photo of what my last Sienna looked like when I was finished. This will allow me to put my battery behind (in front of?) that turned passenger seat, along with a cooler. Plus I love being able to sit in that turned seat to eat or work on my computer. It's also a great place to put my clothes at night when I'm sleeping. It's just so much more convenient.

Sorry it's so dark.

Stay tuned!

Love,

Annie

My New Oven

This coming weekend, I'm taking my first camping trip since hitting the beach early summer. I'm going to an Autumn Equinox Festival with my son.

We decided we wanted biscuits and gravy for breakfast on the Saturday morning, so I had to start thinking about an oven. I had used a Coleman oven in the past, and though it cooked ok, it was bulky and I wanted a more lightweight solution. I did a bit of research and ended up buying an OMNIA oven. Since I was spending the money, I figured I'd go all out and I bought all the accessories, including a metal pan insert (instead of silicone), a silicone insert for making cupcakes or smaller portions, a windscreen, and a temperature gauge. 

Web photo - Lasagne!

Silicone insert

Not my finger - internet photo

I did a test run in my kitchen:

All in all, I am pretty happy with this little guy. It's super lightweight, and though it doesn't completely brown the food (yet), the biscuits were cooked through and it's going to be fun playing with it.

Biscuits were cooked through

Cooked but not browned 

I think if I brush the tops with butter next time, they'll brown up.

I'll let you know how it goes... 

HOORAY!

Making Peace With My Belly

This is an older blog that I wrote and today I realized I had never published it. I'm 70 now so it's a couple of years old. 

***

My entire life, I have kept fit.

I've exercised, watched my weight, and worked out.
My stomach has always been flat, right up until my breast cancer.
Now all that has changed.

Since my double mastectomy, I've had what most women survivors call a "Buddha Belly!" There is a layer of what I can only think is lymph fluid that has taken up residence right under my scar line. It looks like man boobs! And below that is a rounded gut that protrudes like a beer belly! And the frustrating thing is no matter how much I exercise, stretch, work out, the damned thing won't go away.

I guess at my age (68) I shouldn't worry about it, or about my appearance. I mean, I'm not in the market for a husband or even a partner at this point. But I do want to be and look my best, so it does bother me. Plus my clothes are tight around that protruding abdomen.

While finding, fighting, and surviving breast cancer was challenge enough, the resulting lack of estrogen from treatment seems to have fast-forwarded the aging process, and that's almost more difficult dealing with than fighting the cancer.  My skin has aged 20 years. I've traveled my entire life and the roads I've traveled are nothing compared to the roadmap now residing on my face!  I look in the mirror and see tucks and wrinkles and wonder, "What happened to you?!"

The REST of my skin is sagging too!  I mean, what the hell!? When I bend over and look at my legs, they look like my grandmother's legs!

Then there's the arthritis, which came on with a roar while I was taking the Letrozole that was prescribed before and after my surgery. Letrozole is an estrogen blocker and it brings on old age in a matter of days, not weeks! Your skin ages overnight.  Your mind gets foggy. You lose your balance. And Holy Hell, your joints become swollen and hot. It's a bitch, in a word!  My feet were so painful at one point that I would cry putting them on the floor, even after a short rest. 

It got to the point that I dumped the Letrozole. Whether or not that was wise is yet to be known, but it was so negatively affecting my quality of life that made the decision after about 6 months to quit. With my type of cancer, my ONCO score of zero, a biopsy done with a vacuum apparatus to keep cancer cells from spreading, paired with a double mastectomy, there's a very low chance of recurrence of cancer. For me, the side effects of Letrozole weren't worth the extra months it might give me to live in misery.

So now, why am I complaining about a Buddha Belly? 

Well, because I'm a woman and I guess I'm more vain than I thought.

I remember myself being young, sleek, and in shape.

Now I feel (and look) my age.

And I don't like it.

Getting old isn't for sissies. 

Nope.

But...

I guess if a Buddha Belly is the price I have to pay for another 30 years of mornings waking up on this beautiful planet, another 30 years of enjoying my wonderful family, of traveling to new and exciting places, making new friends and learning to become a better person, then I guess I'm ok with it. I'll just keep moving, keep working out, walking, stretching, enjoying the sunrise and sunset, hearing the birds, watching my garden grow, walking the Camino, and being grateful for life.  And I'll carry that Buddha Belly with me proudly. After all, it's a part of this body that fought like hell ... and won the battle of a lifetime.

"Peace, Belly."

"Peace."

My New Kitchen!

 Today Joe finally had the time to build in the kitchen in my van.

I'm SO excited! Here are the photos.

Hooray!

I ordered a new camping table today.

I can't find my old one.

I think I may have let it go with my old van.

Tomorrow I'm going to pack her up for a camping trip.

I'll post photos when I'm done.

My new Kelly Kettle

 I haven't posted much in here lately as I've been caring for my mother and unable to go on any trips. I'm hoping to get out and about again this summer though. In anticipation of that, I bought a new Kelly Kettle last week. It will be nice to be able to boil water and cook without having to buy propane and butane so often.

Today I lit up my Kelly Kettle for the first time. Here are some photos showing you what happened. It was a VERY windy day. The wind was really whipping around and I didn't choose the best place to do this. It took about 7 minutes for the water to boil.

At any rate, this worked GREAT and what a simple way to boil water or cook with nothing but a few sticks I picked up off the ground. It did make a lot of black smoke but that's probably because I used junky bark and leaves. This will be a great addition to my van

My shiny new kettle

Be sure the whistle is pointing DOWN so you don't get a steam burn.

I just built a small fire in the pan using leaves, sticks, and paper I found on the ground. It really was a dirty fire and burned some nasty black smoke. I'll be more cautious what I use next time, but I'm learning.

I had some fat wood so I splintered a small piece to get the fire started.

It was incredibly windy, but the fire took off easily as it was contained in the pan.

I found a piece of 1x4 and splintered it.

This may be what was so smoky.

Fatwood. You can buy this and all you need is a tiny piece to get the fire started.

You can also forage it if you're in the forest.

A piece of fatwood being split

I lit the fire. 

It lit very easily.

Once it had just started to burn, I set the kettle on top.

It immediately took off and was roaring.

This is, after all, nothing more than a miniature rocket stove!

I took video but for some reason, it won't upload.

Once the kettle whistled, the water was boiling.

It took about 7 minutes from start to finish.

I think with practice I can get this down to 3-4 minutes.

All in all, I feel this was a purchase that was worth the cash.

I'm looking forward to using it in the wild

or in emergency situations where I need to boil water for safety

or for convenience when the power is out.

Now to get Joe to build the kitchen in the back . . .